BMW i3 Super Bowl Ad Goes Back to Pre-Internet Times

Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel ask, “What is internet, anyway?”

In 1994, just as the internet was taking shape, Today Show hosts Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel had a confusing on-air moment related to an email address and the “@” symbol. “What is internet, anyway?” Gumbel asks.

While this amusing clip might sound like an unusual start for BMW’s new ad for Super Bowl XLIX ad promoting the company’s i3 electric car, the connection becomes clear when Couric and Gumbel return, 21 years later, this time in the cockpit of the BMW i3.

It might be a bit of a stretch to compare the i3 to the internet, but the ad does highlight some of the BMW i3’s technological advancements. The two news anchors are similarly confused about the new BMW i3, asking all sorts of questions to each other about the car’s all-electric powertrain, its carbon-fiber construction, and its environmentally friendly, unconventional factory that uses wind power for the production line.

This new, 60-second clip will be BMW’s first Super Bowl ad in four years, and shows the company’s commitment to promoting the new BMW i division, which has so far launched the i3 electric hatchback in this clip and the i8 plug-in hybrid sports car in the U.S.

Check out the clip below and look for it to air during Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, February 1.

Automobile offers a rich and varied examination of the automotive universe in all its forms - delivered by our stable of first-class editors and freelance contributors and illustrated with vibrant photography.